"Priest" tries to tame the wild SF+horror+western genre with impressive CGI. Ultimately, the movie is what you will expect.

When will Hollywood learn? When you take mature content and turn it into a P-13 movie you ruin the source material and are left with a watered-down piece of garbage. Personally I have have grown so tired with Hollywood I rarely watch movies these days. Let alone spend money on them. Gaming is the best form of media entertainment to be had these days and Hollywood takes no shame in continuing to ripoff their ideas. Just like they have been doing with Graphic Novels and Comic Books. There are no creative people left in that town. Most of the quality talent venture into gaming.… Expand

Unlike the film vampires you are familiar with who are articulate, handsome, and philosophical, the vampires in Priest are savage animals, almost like feral wolves. Based on a series of graphic novels, the title Priest refers to an elite squad of vampire hunters who, working directly for the Catholic Church, battle vampires. According to the back story, humans and vampires have been in direct and bloody conflict throughout history. Due to the priestâ… Expand

This movie took one of my favorite graphic novels and turned it into a watered down, PG-13, Church VS Vampires piece of junk. I have never actually boycotted a movie before but there's a first time for everything.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. All is not quiet at the Catholic Holy Cross Cemetery. Somebody get a priest. On second thought, don't. That's what has John Ford rolling in his grave to begin with. It's the breach in the fine line between homage and ripoff. The sacreligiousity at work here is two-fold. The filmmaker manages to upset both Christians and cineastes in equal proportions. The "Legion" director, whose funny idea of the holy spirit in his 2009 debut was that God would send down a battalion of homicidal angels to zombify the masses with an ecclesiastical opiate, has moved on from ripping off a B-movie classic like George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". Now, in his not-so-infinite wisdom, he's raiding the film canon for ideas. In "Priest", the filmmakers takes "The Searchers" template and replaces the cowboys and Indians with clergymen and vampires, then sets their ongoing hostilities toward each other in a dystopian world where the Catholic church functions as a totalitarian regime. The all-powerful monsignors, a group of theological autocrats, who preside over the God-fearing masses in these walled-up cities, use Orwellian-like methods of mind control to neutralize the priests, whom the church disbanded after the vampire menace was deemed to be over. Taking a cue from Sam Peckinpah's "Ride the High Country", the priest(Paul Bettany), no longer a useful member of society(the marginalized vampires are tucked away on reservations), is reduced to shoveling coal for a living, a humiliating job, similar to the cowboy Westrum in the 1962 film, who runs a rigged carnival game out of desperation. (Alas, Peckinpah was cremated and had his ashes scattered at sea.) Unlike Ethan Edwards(John Wayne), the priest never returns home to be among the kinfolk. That's probably because he still covets his brother's wife, Shannon. The child they bore together prior to his leaving for the clergy is a dead giveaway; the child whom Hicks and the priest with no name are now searching for. Fate. You can't run away from it. By roaming the city all those years like a vagabond, the priest avoids the sexual tension that Ethan faces when he finally succumbs to love and returns home to see Martha Edwards, still married to his brother Aaron. In the film's iconic first shot, when Martha opens the door, framing the outback in its opening, you notice her hands, first the left, then the right, gripping the house itself to steady herself as she makes her way outside. In that instant, she's not a mother and wife; she's a woman in love, struggling to remember her vows. While Ethan approaches the homestead, Martha does something very subtle with her hand that hints at the desire which belies her blue dress and white apron get-up. Before she straightens her fingers to block out the glare of the sun, they're arranged at the forehead in such a way that suggests she's about to faint. It's not the heat; this conservative frontier woman is swooning. When Ethan chastely kisses her forehead, she closes her eyes. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army hero isn't thinking straight either. The cowboy mistakes Debbie for Lucy, despite the girls being at least ten years apart in age. That's anguish. He wants to turn back the years. Because of "Priest", with its similar but different relationship dynamic between Ethan/Priest and Martha/Shannon, perhaps, a shared sexual past, and not unrequited love, is the correct interpretation for Ethan's stolen glances and the way Martha gently smooths her brother-in-law's military coat. Maybe, just maybe, the identically named Lucy is Ethan's daughter. Now the scene where Ethan and Martha's hands briefly touch as they both reach for a lantern becomes more ambiguous. Aaron, who is storing money away while this display of subtle intimacy takes place, rather than being oblivious to his wife's slight marital indiscretion, may possibly know, and accepts their muted flirtation, but chooses to look the other way. In "Priest", Owen knows that the child isn't his. Evidence of a sexual past can be gleaned from the scene in which Ethan stabs the soil(vagina) with his knife(penis), a metaphorical remembrance, perhaps, of the night he and Martha conceived Lucy, whose denuded lifeless body the war hero discovers in the cave. "Don't ever ask me MORE," Ethan tells Brad, later on, when Lucy's boyfriend mistakes a squaw for his betrothed. "More", filtered through "Priest", suddenly becomes a loaded word. Whereas Ethan's love for Martha outweighs his hatred for the Indians as the determining deterrent against killing Debbie, a converted Comanche, in "Priest", Hicks(the stand-in for Martin), Lucy's protector, probably knows that vampire infection isn't the sole reason for the potentiality of the father committing fratricide. He broke his vow of celibacy. The timeline is a mere technicality. Now he must atone, murderously. Does the priest love God more than his daughter? Thankfully, no.… Expand

The Korean comic book after which this movie seems to be patterned (same name, same creatures) is better to read than this film is to watch. Feeling sorry that Bettany's acting skills couldn't have been put to better use.

This movie is laughably bad, seriously I laughed throughout this entire thing at how stupid it was, it takes place in some kind of futuristic sci-fi western world, the acting is horrible, and I found myself literally predicting everything that would happen, from what the characters would say, to what was around the next corner, to how it all play out, and it has what is probably the worst ending of all time, and it tries so hard to be serious which makes it all the more pathetic, honestly avoid this movie at all costs unless you looking for a good laugh, the only reason it's not scoring lower is because I had so much fun laughing at it, this may just be one of the worst movies of all time, don't waste your time or money.… Expand

This movie is just plain lame. There is nothing really special going for it. It seemed like it would be a pretty cool idea, but it pretty much just failed throughout. I didn't care for the characters and the action wasn't great. In the end, I pretty much just didn't care what was gonna happen in the movie.

It's a borderline boring movie that's saved by a stellar performance (in a limited role) by Maggie Q. She should have been the star of this film - and should be the lead in something coming up. Her action sequences are terrific. The rest of the movie is ho hum - too grim, not enough humanity. The story is just not that compelling. Paul Bettany is solid in general, but he's tough to root for here. I enjoyed the opening animated sequence probably more than the movie itself. For some reason, this film reminds me of the far superior Equilibrium with Christian Bale & Taye Diggs. (Rent that one instead).… Expand

"Priest" is exactly what you'd expect it to be - a blood-infested, action-packed, testosterone-charged action fest. That does not necessarily mean it's bad, it's just typical. It follows a rather linear story, with bad dialogue (very machoist, many a times) and some bad visual effects. For a change, however, it does show vampires as not the over-sexualised, highly intelligent beings, but as brute alien like monsters, which was somewhat refreshing. The film is also surprisingly short with only 1 hour and 20 minutes - definitely could have been longer. Well, if it had been better, it could have been longer. The way it is now, though, 1:20 is perfectly fine. I don't even know what to say. Yes, it's entertaining, but it won't leave you with wanting any more than what you've been given. The ending does provide for a perfect (intentionally so) setup for a sequel, that due to horrible reviews and box office will never be made. The films biggest flaw is its poor screenplay, but that might be a fault of the original comic book too, which I have never read before. In general, the film was overly predictable and not very exciting, though reasonably entertaining. Going into it you won't find anything that you haven't seen in films like this before, but you won't be completely disappointed either. If you are looking for what I've described in the first sentence, you'll definitely get that. If you are looking for some genre changer, you will be severely disappointed.… Expand

Paul Bettany plays a holy man who's also a badass vampire killer. Unfortunately, the movie isn't badassâ

the movie was bad, not good special effects, lousy performances, the plot of the movie was the typical and boring story, and the main thing was an insult to the legends of vampires, that nastiness, I hope not torture comesfrom the the second part

In contrast to the glimmering, good-looking people vampires have been portrayed to be in recent movies/TV shows, the vampires portrayed in Priests are the complete opposite, and is pretty awesome. However the story was bland and some of the dialogues felt awkward. This movie seemed more like a straight to DVD, or a made for TV, type film. I would recommend that those who are thinking about watching this in theaters to skip it and pick it up for rental when it comes out.… Collapse

This movie had a lot of potential, but really fell short in terms of dialog, story, and acting. The action scenes were visually stunning, yet they were short and sporadic, leaving a lot of dull, corny, in-between scenes without substance. If the producers would have gone with an R rating and had more horror gore (something like 300), then the "graphic novel" feel to the setting would have possibly made up for the bad acting, plot, and dialog. I gave Priest a 3, because it really is not worth seeing or renting.… Expand

Weak. I expected as much. There is nothing really new here and Bettany continues in these lackluster, apocalyptic films that have just become old-hat now. Is this his companion piece to Legion (which was a slightly better film)? I can't say I was thrilled, excited, or even mildly interested in what was going on on-screen. This film is just tired and and it tries too hard and I found myself asking, "Is it over yet?"… Expand

I actually got some good entertainment. Priest is set in the future after a war between vampires and humans has come to an end. But after a vampire attack outside of the city and a kidnapping of Priest's niece and death of his brother, he defies church vows and hunts down the vampire. There is a twist in the film that is thrown in there. But this movie isnt really about the story. its a stylish action film and big step up from Legion, Scott Stewart's directing debut film.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Here's my attempt at a non-biased review. The movie overall was not good. One of the things that erked me the most was the main character. For one the actor was not what you'd call a good choice. Don't get me wrong he wasn't bad, but he did not fit. A skinny little white guy with a cross on his face is going to save the world from a vampire threat? Ewwww not going to fly. Plus, lets also add in that his fight seens really weren't to immaculate. Yes, he did kill vampires in various ways which was pretty cool, but then at the end when he had to fight the main bad guy he just got **** up. He really got **** up. Now im aware that he is only a vampire killer and he should only do well against vampires, that in and of itself destroys the badass thing that the movie was going for. Yeah he's pretty cool fighting **** that he knows how to kill and that he can kill easily, but when it comes something a little bit stronger he just gets destroyed. There was no improv from his part he justs get beaten up and then saved by the girl priest. Not very badass......at all. So the writing for the main character could have been much better and then they definately needed a new actor, I'd say vin diesel, or "The Rock" or maybe Jason Statham or someone along those lines.
On to the next thing. The whole idea of the Priest(In the movie) was pathetic. They had no special ability, no magic power, no trick up their sleeve, nothing. They were just some people who were basically ninjas but with the word priest not ninja. This was probably what **** the movie the most for me. The priests weren't special in any way. They just had some cool blades and some hoods(Which they never **** wore!). I mean the whole idea doesn't make sense. I understand it is a movie and it doesn't need to be completely reallistic, but this to me crossed the line. You mean to tell me trained soldiers with rifles that can kill vampires just as easy as the priests little daggers couldn't handle the vampire threat? "Well you saw, the vampires were hard to shoot" No Hicks **** blows straight up. He was useless the entire time, maybe killed 5 vampires or so and then did nothing else the entire movie. My point is, they gave no reason for priests to be needed. They had nothing special the just were quick and used daggers. Thats it! They needed to have some special thing like they were taken at a pure age which gave them the ability to combat the vampires, or God came down and imbued them with the ability to be able to fight them, or they had magical abilities that they could use.( No, I haven't read the **** novel, all of this is based off the movie, so if they're special in the novel then im sorry.) But as far as im concerned I could have taken a civilian from the movie trained him how to shoot and be quick and he could've done a **** ton better than the priests.
The final thing that I didn't like was the vampires themselves. No it's not because they weren't like twilight, or 'cause they werent handsome and elegant, or cause they were just feral beasts or stupid **** like that. No thats not it at all. The writer can make the vampire whatever the **** he wants its all up to his imagination they dont need to be anything, in fact I like how he did it, as far as I know it was unique it didn't follow twilight or blade or all the bull****. The one thing that they did was that the vampires did not live up to the story in the beginning. And that's my only problem. In the legend they **** ripped people to shreds and split them in half and pretty much mutilated humans. Now dont get me wrong im not a bloodthirsty gore**** idiot, i dont need movies to be bloody and gorey to be good. But when in the **** opening they are ripping people to shreds and then in the movie he sees his brother after the attack and he has a scratch on his face, i ask myself what the **** happened. Did they just dumb down or something what is this.
So all in all the movie made no **** sense(Vampire reservations was a big one, not gonna get into that), nothing lived up to what it was supposed to(Priests were lame, Main character sucked, Vampires were about as brutal as a pack of puppies, and the main guy who took a **** cross-blade to the throat and was fine died to an explosion which was **** lame), It had a lot of useless characters(Hicks is the biggest **** one, jesus christ I would have rather had the **** asian kid from Indiana Jones there. At least he never threatened Indie with a gun.) And then the cast was just **** The main character was about as badass as a girlscout, the other girl priest was, for lack of a better term, ugly, the main bad guy actor was the best i thought). All in all, Priest was not good at all, waste of time, waste of money, dont watch it.… Expand

Priest was not a good movie. The plot was weak. The battles sequences were subpar at best. The special effects were nothing to write home about either. The movie also seemed to be quite short. I was disappointed because the previews looked promising....but it did not deliver at all. Should you see it? In my opinion.....no. But I am not you.

This movie is horrible. I thank God i've been on a promotional screening and i didnt have to pay for it...
Im not familiar with the original graphic novel, but I cant imagine its so dull and stupid as the movie. Im a devoted fan of SF genre, specially loving all dystopian visions of the future, but ... ok, lets start from the beginning.
The Priest starts pretty nice - the world created in the movie is dark, dreadful and sad. We've got some story, sure it's dumb, but i was confident the atmosphere and good visuals will be enough to make this movie at least ... decent. I was wrong. Movie goes flat in just 10minutes. You dont care about anything, you just wish to be somewhere else. Story - completly dull. Action - we've seen it all. Acting - just bad.
And as a cherry on top - one of the worst endings ive seen so far. Dont you even dare to see it in cinema. Dont you even dare to rent it. It's bad. Period.… Expand

Boring, slow paced movie with uninteresting and forgettable characters. The 9s and 10s the people are giving are from people that watched the film on the big screen and feel bad for wasting $10 for this film and are in denial. Not enough fight scenes, not enough interesting dialogues, you sometimes forget the cowboy kid is even in the movie; why was the kid in the film anyway? I forgot. Atleast the improved it just a lil' bit from legion but thats like saying the s*** I took today improved from the sh** i took yesturday. The only character thats actually half decent is Karl Urban who plays the Black Hat and thats because he was surrounded by stupid characters so it Karl stands out. Boring movie. Rent it ONLY if you are a fan of Paul Bethany like me (thought I'm starting to lose faith in his work)… Expand

Priest was a good to kill some time movie. The only reason I saw it was because its free because i work at a movie theatre. If i had to pay for my ticket i would've been very upset, especially if I payed extra for the 3D. I watched this movie before I had to go into work and i couldn't complain because it was free and I was only watching it to kill time and it looked like it had potential. Thi movie was ok though. Paul Bettany we all know isn't the greatest actor on the planet. He's a good action film star. This film was pretty much like Legion except in a different area and even darker. Karl Urban plays the villain and I have to say he did an absolute horrible job. His acting was terrible, I don't know if it was the writing or what but he was bad, his lines were so dumb. Overall a 4/10, if your seeing it for free then its worth a watch but if your paying then I would save your money.… Expand

Plot of this "movie" is so banal, stale and lacking of originality that it can be written a piece of tissue. I had that strange feeling during this movie that it was shot in a fast forward and lots of stuff was simply removed it during production. It lacks any details at all. Though I'm not sure if I want any of them at all. Actors play as if they were some kind of volunteers and not being paid for their jobs. Cliche.… Expand

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The story isn't original. They chose the wrong actor for the main role. Why is whenever Hollywood makes a movie like this one, that they always choose the wrong actors. I mean really. To be perfectly honest, I think this movie was a waste of Hollywood's time and money.

My recipe for a Priest **** add equal parts of Blade 2 and Equilibrium into a glass. Add a splash of The Searchers. Serve with a slice of Mortal Kombat as Garnish. Enjoy.

When I saw the movie I felt that the motorcycle was the star, maybe the motorcycle expressed more emotion than the lead actor. totally predictable and boring occasions, monetarily is entertaining, JUST monetarily.

I really didn't know what to expect with this movie. As soon as the movie began to play my eye instantly caught the aesthetic style of the world that this movie painted, and the back story that set the film's plot up was decent to boot. The CGI was decent and the acting wasn't terrible. The movie opened with the tale of a war with vampires and special warriors called priests tasked with stopping the vamps. After the vampire threat was long thought diminished they begin to return. After this interesting set-up the film shifts it's plot to more of a rescue mission. it completely loses the scope that it sets up at the beginning of the film and ends with a very lackluster climax that is unfortunately forgettable, which is pretty much what I'd say about the whole film itself. The story just didn't pan out very well ant the cool art direction was ditched after the first fifteen minutes of the movie, They had a really cool noire looking city in the middle of the desert and we barley got to see any of it. This movie could have been so much more, well at least the vampires didn't sparkle...… Expand

Of all the great memories from vampire hunters like Selene from the Underworld series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there's only one movie that I missed the mark, Priest. This is one of the worst movies of 2011 because the action. the script, and the plain storyline is just not even worth a dollar. I still love Screen Gems, but they should've get rid of both Legion and Priest.

"Scott Stewart's Priest is a dull movie with a boring script . Priest doesn't have a single moment of enjoyment . Bad directing , Worst script , disturbing sound made this movie super boring ! Paul did his best but the others but most most of all Karl Urban made much more worst . anyone could do better then what he did . Spacial effect was not so good too ! and this movie ruined the comics ! overall its a its a time waste . Story : 0.62 [wot well written at all]
Directing : 0.72 [SO bad]
Acting : 0.72 [Paul was ok but Karl made it worst]
Sound : 0.82 [Bad]
Effect : 12 [Not that well]

OVERALL : 3.810… Expand

This is how vampire movies go too far. Perhaps the comix had more plot and inspiring imagery unlike the movie, which looks very low budget and badly scripted. The main character seems to be the only one with slight personality, at best. Not worth it.

The point of this movie is lost on me. I love movies that make you think, but can't come up for an excuse for this beast of a picture. It's pretty much one of those movies that was drafted out in an hour and posted on screen. Vampires are the in thing right now, and the whole thing is just about chasing and wanting and hunting. I hate to say it, skip it and go see Twilight...just kidding.

Priest could be done in a better way as there were many ideas to make a film very nice. The biggest flaw in the film was a definite lack of the psychology of the characters. But Priest has good scenes just helpful in the film (post-apocalyptic scenarios), well made and the special effects. The mixture of fantasy, horror and western succeeded. You can not say it's a bad film but a film in the media but it could be really nice if done in a more elaborate way (especially in speech).… Expand

Priest is a ridiculously brainless and unmemorable action movie that seems to have had no effort put into any aspect of its production. The CGI could have been from the '90s, the slow-motion is irritating, and the 3D effects are obtrusive and gratuitous. The story is practically 'good guy fights bad guy' - then it ends. The acting, particularly from Gigandet, is laughably wooden. In fact, no one seems committed to their role, but it's not hard to see why; the make-up effects consist of a painted cross on the head -- everything else is CGI. When the actors are given NOTHING to work with, then it becomes difficult to put together a meaningful performance. It's interesting to note the amount of times the word 'priest' and its plural are said; often characters will just yell it out for no reason, making for what would be an interesting drinking game. That's just it, though; with all of its amateurishness, you could have a lot of fun with this movie in the right mood; it's lame, it's stupid, and it's most certainly terrible; but it's a hell of a way to kill 80 minutes.… Expand